Patty's Dream
by hydrabell
Summary: Patty has a nightmare.


They had been fighting for what seemed like a decade and the Kishin-egg was only growing stronger with each blow. Kid had already used Death Cannon three times and nothing was working. It was hopeless. How could a pre-Kishin possibly be so strong? "Kiddo, what is this thing?!" Liz screamed in panic as it grew three times its original size and twice as horrifying with each passing minute. "Stay with me. We're not backing down from this fight!" He assured, dodging a swipe of the creature's claws just barely. What they had expected to be just another routine mission had turned out to be so much more than they bargained for. It took everything Kid had just to _dodge_ the Kishin now, let alone connect any attacks. He couldn't let Liz and Patty lose faith in him though. He wouldn't let himself give up. Suddenly, the Kishin lashed out at Kid's forearms, lacerating them, which knocked Liz and Patty who were still clutched tightly in his hands far out of reach and unusable. Kid stared in wide-eyed disbelief at the extent of his injuries and back at the monster before him with rage. "No power is found in surrendering oneself. There is no relief or deliverance. The things you hoped to escape will find you a hundred times over, in the end, Kishin." Kid hissed furiously, trying to keep his balance. His vision had begun to blur from blood loss. "You disgust me."

Patty transformed back into her human form and made a frantic attempt to pry Liz from Kid's hand. She fired at the Kishin rapidly, but the shots were far too weak. Kid tried with all of his might to connect his lines of Sanzu for a desperate last attempt, but there was no way he could possibly amplify his soul without his weapons. The kishin swatted Patty away like an insect and then threw Kid forcefully at the ground. His body spiked into the air on impact and then skidded to a stop not far from where Liz and Patty had landed. He looked horribly broken. The kishin laughed hideously with a manic grin and dragged him back in. Liz had transformed and hit her head on a rock when the kishin threw her and Patty, leaving her unconscious, but her younger sister watched as the Kishin drove its claws repeatedly into her meister's already-mangled body. She couldn't understand what had happened. Did they lose? What happened to Kid? The kishin was no longer in sight and the night air was just as calm as before the battle started. Patty ran to Kid, hoping they could all just go home now. She didn't like any of this.

The young pistol's eyes became misty when she saw the unnatural position Kid's body was in and the pool of blood around it. "Kid, the kishin got away. I'm sorry." She whispered. "Can we go home now, please?" There was no response. Kid continued to stare blankly upward with empty eyes. Tears began to roll down Patty's cheeks. There was something different about Kid now. One of the white lines in his hair was missing and the other two were beginning to fade away. It suddenly hit her. She understood that Kid was dying for good. He was hurt far too badly to regenerate. As soon as his hair turned black, she and her sister would be alone again. "Please don't leave." She choked through her tears of realization. "Look, look, look," she ripped one of the sleeves of her jacket. "It's asymmetrical now. Aren't you going to fix it for me? Please look; It's horrible. It's so horrible. IT'S HIDEOUS!" she pleaded with tear-stained cheeks and cupped Kid's face in her hand to tilt his gaze toward her, hoping that he'd jump up any second now and scold her for ruining her clothes, but it was too late. "Don't go."

"Don't go." She whispered. She could feel her head resting on her pillow, wet with tears. The soft whir of her desk fan grew louder as it slowly oscillated. Patty's eyes opened. It was just a dream. She hugged the nearest stuffed animal tight to her chest and wiped tears from her cheeks. She wanted to make sure Kid was okay. Quietly, Patty walked down the hall to Kid's room and tapped on the door softly. There was no answer, so she decided to go inside and wake him. When she slowly opened the door, she was relieved to see her partner sleeping soundly. "Kid." She knelt by his bedside and rested her head on her crossed arms childishly. "Kiddo." She called again, louder. "Huh- Patty?" Kid replied with sleepy half-lidded eyes. His partner stood up and hugged her stuffed lion again. She looked like she'd been crying. "Is everything okay, Patty?"

"I had a really bad dream." She whispered weakly.

"Don't you want to talk to Liz about it?" Patty would sometimes have nightmares like this, about when they had lived on the streets, but she'd always go to Liz when she was scared. Kid would hear her footsteps as she passed by his door on her way to Liz's room in the middle of the night.

"No." There was no fragment left of the usual, robust and cheerful Patty Kid was familiar with. This Patty was solemn and hurt.

Kid didn't know what to do. Patty had never gone to him for comfort before. She'd always kept so much closer to her sister.

"Please don't dye your hair anymore." Patty said, staring at the ground.

Occasionally, Kid would dye his hair completely black and hide his Sanzu lines because he hated the way they were only on one half of his head, but because of a shinigami's regenerative powers, it would never last for more than a day.

"Why, Patty? I don't understand."

"In my dream, the white in your hair went away, and it wasn't because you dyed it. You got hurt really badly."

Kid understood what that meant.

What Patty did next took him completely by surprise. Patty pulled him close and hugged him tightly. "I'm glad you found us. I'm glad we live here. I'm glad we have a brother now."

He was at a complete loss for words.

"I don't want to be alone again, Kid." She sounded like she was about to burst into tears.

Up until now, Kid had only thought of the two girls who lived with him as partners. He cared for them, of course, but he'd never realized that they didn't think of him as just some rich kid who took them in to use them as weapons anymore. He would have never thought that they accepted him as a real part of their family. Coming from someone who had nothing but family to depend on in life, this must have meant something truly special.

"You're not alone, Patty." He returned her embrace, still somewhat shocked at her sudden affectionate display.

"You're never gonna leave us, right?"

"Of course not." He assured the girl who was squeezing him tightly, as if she'd really just seen him die and he was just a ghost that would disappear at any second. "That's not what brothers do."

"Thank you."

After Kid had convinced Patty that he hadn't died, and had no intention to do so, she climbed into her own bed and snuggled with her menagerie of stuffed animals. She had another dream, but this time she dreamt of the day she and her sister met a funny-looking boy who smelled like soap, had stripes in his hair, and called them beautiful.


End file.
